Yay to understanding-- something!
So, my second full day of classes was today. In the morning, I got up as late as possible to recover from the all day trip to Kyoto. From there, I went to another Japanese class. Luckily, because this was a "level one" class, it was a lot easier to understand than Friday's class. Well... relatively speaking. I could at least read most of the questions on the information sheet the teacher handed to us. It also helped that Bea and Nguyen were in the same class with me. The teacher showed us this cool study room specifically for students taking Japanese. It was a mini library with tons of Japanese text books and Japanese manga to read. And a lot of the text books were in English! I saw the Genki books that UNCG uses on the shelves, so I know I will go back soon to study in my free time.
After Japanese I had my lunch break. I sat outside on the lawn with Bea and Nguyen eating lunch while students put on a Noh play (traditional Japanese theater). Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera so I can't put up any pictures.
From there, Bea and I went to my two next classes together. The first was Budou (collectively it refers to traditional Japanese sports). We watched a video about Kendo and Naginata, which we will be learning in the class. I am so excited to try it! Once again, this class had about six people total. Our next class, however, was originally intended for first year students so there were about thirty! Bea and I received many stares and giggles from the younger girls, probably because we were obviously foreigners. However, I didn't let it deter my enthusiasm because this class was the closest thing to a standard gym class you could get-- and it was something I was good at. We played some volleyball and I actually did well (thank God for the year I played during high school.) I was actually sweaty and happy afterwards! Next week we will be starting tennis so that should be fun. I would expect no less because Inoue sensei is the teacher and he has played tennis competitively. He also teaches a tennis class and is the advisor for the tennis club. Awesome!
Once classes were over, I took a shower and made myself some dinner. Then, Bea and I spent the rest of the night in her room watching Korean pop videos on Youtube. (Yes, we have no shame.) It was really interesting to see how different the music culture is in the east. "Scandalous" videos consist of girls wearing short shorts and any implication of sex is frowned upon. I wonder what they must think of OUR music videos.
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I am looking forward to my classes today! I have a dance class and two Japanese classes. Bea is taking them as well so I won't be alone. It's really comforting to be in classes with my friends! More on that later.
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